Describes the country's standards landscape, identifies the national standards and accreditation bodies, and lists the main national testing organization(s) and conformity assessment bodies.
Last Published: 2/18/2019

Overview

Products tested and certified in the United States to American standards are likely to be retested and re-certified to EU requirements.  Where products are not regulated by specific EU technical legislation, they remain subject to the EU’s General Product Safety Directive as well as to any applicable national requirements.
European Union standards created under the New Approach are harmonized across the EU Member States and European Economic Area countries to allow for the free flow of goods.  A feature of the New Approach is CE marking.   For a list of New Approach legislation, go to http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/european-standards/harmonised-standards/.
While harmonization of EU legislation can facilitate access to the EU Single Market, manufacturers should be aware that regulations and technical standards might also act as barriers to trade if U.S. standards are different from those of the European Union.

Standards

Icelandic Standards (IST) is the national standards body of Iceland.  It is an independent association whose role, by law, is the publication of Icelandic standards and the representation of Iceland in international and regional standards bodies.  Four sector committees operate under the auspices of Icelandic Standards: Byggingarstaðlaráð (BSTR) in the building sector, Fagstaðlaráð í fiskimálum (FIF) in the fishing sector, Fagstaðlaráð í upplýsingatækni (FUT) in the information technology sector, and Rafstaðlaráð (RST) in the electro-technical sector.  IST is a member of the European standards organizations European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and of the international standards organizations ISO and IEC.  Their address is:

Icelandic Standards

Skúlatun 2
105 Reykjavík
Iceland
Tel: +354 520-7150
Fax: +354-520-7171
Web site:  www.stadlar.is

Testing, inspection and certification

Conformity Assessment
Electrical equipment sold and used by the public (consumer electronics and household electrical appliances) must carry the CE mark to certify that the products have met EU consumer safety, health or environmental requirements. The electric current in Iceland is 50 cycle, 220-volt AC.  Questions can be forwarded to the Icelandic Consumer Agency (www.neytendastofa.is).
Icelandic intellectual property laws are TRIPS-compliant.  All applications for trademark, patent, or intellectual property protection in the Icelandic market must be registered with the Icelandic Patent Office (www.patent.is). Iceland does not require country of origin marking for imports.  However, goods carrying incorrect designations of origin are prohibited, and products made to appear as if they were produced or manufactured in Iceland may not be imported unless the correct foreign origin is clearly and durably marked thereon.
Special marking regulations and labeling requirements exist for pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food products and other product categories.  Iceland has health, sanitary and labeling rules and capabilities for monitoring product quality.
A retail-size food package must show the name of the manufacturer, packer or importer, commercial name of the product, net metric weights or volume, ingredients in descending order of weight, last recommended date of consumption, and storage instructions if perishable or intended for infants.  Any product that contains more than 0.9 percent materials produced from genetically modified organisms must be labeled as such.  More information can be obtained from the Environment Agency of Iceland (www.ust.is) and The Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (www.mast.is).

Product Certification

To sell products on the EU market as well as Iceland, U.S. exporters are required to apply CE marking whenever their product is covered by specific product legislation.  CE marking product legislation offers manufacturers a number of choices and requires decisions to determine which safety/health concerns need to be addressed, which conformity assessment module is best suited to the manufacturing process, and whether or not to use EU-wide harmonized standards.
Products manufactured to standards adopted by CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, and published in the Official Journal as harmonized standards, are presumed to conform to the requirements of EU Directives.  The manufacturer then applies the CE marking and issues a declaration of conformity.  With these, the product will be allowed to circulate freely within the EU/EEA district.  A manufacturer can choose not to use the harmonized EU standards, but then must demonstrate that the product meets the essential safety and performance requirements.  Trade barriers occur when design, rather than performance, standards are developed by the relevant European standardization organization, and when U.S. companies do not have access to the standardization process through a European presence.
The CE marking addresses itself primarily to the national control authorities of the EU member states, and its use simplifies the task of essential market surveillance of regulated products.  Although CE marking is intended primarily for inspection purposes by EU member state inspectors, the consumer may well perceive it as a quality mark.
The CE marking is not intended to include detailed technical information on the product, but there must be enough information to enable the inspector to trace the product back to the manufacturer or the authorized representative established in the EU.  This detailed information should not appear next to the CE marking, but rather on the declaration of conformity, the certificate of conformity (which the manufacturer or authorized agent must be able to provide at any time, together with the product's technical file), or the documents accompanying the product.
Icelandic Standards (IST) is accredited for certification in the fields of environment (ISO14000 series), quality (ISP9000 series), Information technology, Security technology and Information safety (ISO/IEC 17799 -ISO 27002 and ISO/IEC 27001 series) and products (CE marking).

Accreditation

The Icelandic Consumer Agency is, among other things, the national accreditation organization under the auspices of the Icelandic Ministry of the Interior.  The Icelandic Consumer Agency provides companies and institutions with expert accreditation and metrological services and is to ensure compliance with requirements for the safety and interests of Icelandic consumers.  The Accreditation Division performs accreditation of inspection, testing and certification bodies to the EN 45000 series of standards, which entails international recognition of their activities.  It also handles communications and training concerning accreditation issues and B-accreditation of workshops for re-inspection of motor vehicles, testing and installation of tachographs.  Accreditation involves the formal recognition of competence to perform specific tasks, e.g. motor vehicle inspections, testing of the bacteriological content of water or certification of quality systems.
Independent certification bodies, known as notified bodies, have been officially accredited by competent authorities to test and certify to EU requirements. Under the Agreement on Mutual Recognition between the U.S. and the EEA and EFTA states, notified bodies based in the United States and referred to as conformity assessment bodies, are allowed to test in the United States to EEA and EFTA specifications, and vice versa.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has a link on its website to American and European Conformity Assessment bodies operating under a mutual recognition agreement. It can be found at: (https://www.nist.gov/).
Notified bodies in Iceland can be found at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/index_en.
Accreditation is handled at Member State level. "European Accreditation" is an organization representing nationally recognized accreditation bodies (www.european-accreditation.org).  Membership is open to nationally recognized accreditation bodies in countries in the European geographical area that can demonstrate that they operate an accreditation system compatible with EN45003 or ISO/IEC Guide 58.

Publication of technical regulations

The Icelandic Patent office publishes a monthly gazette that covers filings of patents, trademarks and designs. The gazette is available via download at www.isac.is  
Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are required under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) to notify to the WTO proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that could affect trade. Notify U.S. (www.nist.gov/notifyus) is a free, web-based e-mail registration service that captures and makes available for review and comment key information on draft regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Users receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are added by selected country(ies) and industry sector(s) of interest, and can also request full texts of regulations.  This service and its associated web site are managed and operated by the USA WTO TBT Inquiry Point housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Contact Information

Trade Agreements ISAC - Iceland Accreditation
ISAC, Einkaleyfastofan
Engjateigur 3
150 Reykjavík
Iceland
Tel:  +354 580 9400
Fax: +354-580-9401
Web site: www.isac.is
 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.